A New Thing

I just returned from a 5-day trip to Valdosta, Georgia, for my younger sister Maria’s college graduation. Before I left for the trip, I also just purchased a new website theme (the Genesis Lifestyle Theme) and hired wonderful website designer Linda Hernestal da Silva of Work at Home Balance to redesign my website. What do you think? 🙂

Although I was very pleased with the outsource work someone did for me to add pages and categories to my site last time, I was NOT happy at all with the new theme I had installed. It didn’t turn out the way I had expected. I didn’t want to act like a pouty, spoiled rotten child. I tried for weeks to be content and happy about it, but it just wasn’t there!

It’s a good thing I hadn’t spent a lot of money on the theme! After seeking others’ counsel about what to do – just live with it? find another theme? – I decided to go with my gut instincts and find another Genesis theme I really liked, and hire a professional website designer for a fresh new look. That way I wouldn’t have to be aggravated with the tech aspects of it and it would be worth it all by the time she was finished! It was the right decision. Go with your gut! And take advantage of outsourcing for your business!

I don’t just like this Genesis Lifestyle theme and new design ~ I LOVE it!!! My favorite color is green, and I really LOVE the new graphic I purchased from Istock (on the left side of the header at the top of this page -the woman in the green chair with her laptop and a blue coffee cup).

Our daughter Leah tweaked the graphic for me with her graphic art program to look more like me ~ putting highlights in her hair like mine has, changing her blue eyes to green-brown hazel like mine, changing her pink shoes’ color to blue ~ and even adding some weight to her, lol, at my request (the cartoon graphic was a lot thinner than me, but I am working on losing weight. I’ve even hired a health coach to help me!). Leah did a great job with the graphic.

I love the relaxed, comfortable appearance of the woman in the chair in her jeans, with her laptop and coffee, and I want you to feel relaxed and comfortable here, too ~ like having a good, hot cup of coffee with a friend, sharing together about the great things God is doing in our lives!

Linda redesigned my header with Leah’s finished product of the Istock graphic. We removed my blog’s previous name Tablet Of My Heart from the header, to use my name for the site for branding purposes.

I also created a new tagline which I brainstormed about with several of my precious online friends (thank you, girlfriends!), Equipping Women to hear God’s voice, unlock their gifts, and pursue their passion. What do you think of the tagline? The site’s new look?

Linda did an incredible job with this redesign, going “above and beyond” the job. I am so happy and excited about it!

She also gave me great tips for reorganizing the site to improve its appearance, so you may find things a little different around here (but much easier to find!).

Linda is efficient, professional, and fun to work with ~ and very reasonably priced ~ so I highly recommend her for a website design. Be sure to check out her services for website design as well as coaching at Work at Home Balance, and tell her hi for me! Getting a new design for your website is as fun as going shopping for clothes at Kohl’s!

I have much to tell you about my Georgia trip and pictures to share with you, but meanwhile I wanted to surprise you with the new redesign. Only my family and a couple of friends knew about it…and I was about to bust to tell you! 🙂

I also have some exciting ideas for 2012, which I can’t wait to share with you soon. I’d love to hear from you about your plans for Christmas and for 2012.

Are you traveling for Christmas or staying home? Having family and friends over or going to someone else’s house? Ray, Leah and I and Heather and her family are all meeting at our daughter Eden’s house this year, which will be different (usually we have Christmas here). I still have shopping to do! :O What about you?

What do you want 2012 to be like?

Have you written out your goals and dreams or do you choose an annual theme? Have you made your bucket list? What are some of the things that are in your heart to do?

What did you accomplish in 2011? What haven’t you accomplished yet that you would like to do?

What do you need to prune and leave behind in 2011?

What lessons did you learn?

What good things did God do for you? What prayers did He answer?

Please share your answers in the comments below. I have missed you! I was so happy to see my sister Maria and her kids and my family in Georgia ~ and to eat delicious southern fried catfish, cheese grits, and hushpuppies again! ~ but it’s good to be back!

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” ~ Isaiah 43: 19, NLT

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